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A Ladder to the Sky: A Novel (Hardcover)

November 2018 Indie Next List

“Maurice Swift is a man you won’t soon forget: handsome and charming, but above all else ambitious. He dreams of being the greatest writer of his generation and has no qualms about using the people in his orbit and conning his way to the top of his field. John Boyne has given us a truly memorable character in Maurice, but more than that, he’s given us a novel with an ingenious structure and terrific dialogue that entertains the larger question of who can ever really own a story. This is a fantastic, thoughtful tale that even in its darkest moments is a thrill to read.”
— Erika VanDam, RoscoeBooks, Chicago, IL

Description

“An addictive Rubik’s Cube of vice that keeps turning up new patterns of depravity… a satire of writerly ambition wrapped in a psychological thriller… A Ladder to the Sky is an homage to Patricia Highsmith, Oscar Wilde and Edgar Allan Poe, but its execution is entirely Boyne’s own." -- Ron Charles, Washington Post

“Take Meg Wolitzer's novel The Wife...and cross it with Patricia Highsmith's classic Ripley stories, about a suave psychopath, and you've got something of the crooked charisma of John Boyne's new novel, A Ladder to the Sky." -- NPR

Maurice Swift is handsome, charming, and hungry for fame. The one thing he doesn’t have is talent – but he’s not about to let a detail like that stand in his way. After all, a would-be writer can find stories anywhere. They don’t need to be his own.

Working as a waiter in a West Berlin hotel in 1988, Maurice engineers the perfect opportunity: a chance encounter with celebrated novelist Erich Ackermann. He quickly ingratiates himself with the powerful – but desperately lonely – older man, teasing out of Erich a terrible, long-held secret about his activities during the war. Perfect material for Maurice’s first novel.

Once Maurice has had a taste of literary fame, he knows he can stop at nothing in pursuit of that high. Moving from the Amalfi Coast, where he matches wits with Gore Vidal, to Manhattan and London, Maurice hones his talent for deceit and manipulation, preying on the talented and vulnerable in his cold-blooded climb to the top. But the higher he climbs, the further he has to fall…

Sweeping across the late twentieth century, A Ladder to the Sky is a fascinating portrait of a relentlessly immoral man, a tour de force of storytelling, and the next great novel from an acclaimed literary virtuoso.

About the Author

JOHN BOYNE was born in Ireland in 1971. He is the author of eleven novels for adults, five for younger readers and a collection of short stories. His 2006 novel The Boy In the Stiped Pajamas sold 9 million copies worldwide and has been adapted for cinema, theatre, ballet and opera. John has won three Irish Book Awards and many other international literary awards and his novels are published in over 50 languages. He lives in Dublin.

“Boyne's mastery of perspective, last seen in 2017's The Heart's Invisible Furies, works beautifully here….Boyne understands that it's far more interesting and satisfying for a reader to see that narcissist in action than to be told a catchall phrase. Each step Maurice Swift takes skyward reveals a new layer of calumny he's willing to engage in, and the desperation behind it….so dark it seems almost impossible to enjoy reading A Ladder to the Sky as much as you definitely will enjoy reading it.” —NPR

“John Boyne’s delicious new novel A Ladder to the Sky… spins out over several decades with thrilling unpredictability, following Maurice as he masters the art of co-opting the stories of others in increasingly dubious ways. And while the book reads as a thriller with a body count that would make Highsmith proud, it is also an exploration of morality and art: Where is the line between inspiration and thievery? To whom does a story belong?”—Vanity Fair

“Maurice has the heart of a sniper… marvelously engaging, barbed and witty.” —New York Times Book Review

“A darkly funny novel that races like a beating heart.”– People

“Maurice Swift may not be much of a novelist, but he inhabits a literary tradition going to back to Patricia Highsmith. Boyne’s protagonist is Tom Ripley as literary climber... Boyne’s novel is about high literature but has lower, juicier ambitions, at which it wildly succeeds.”– Vulture

“A taut and gripping novel… as craftily written as Swift himself.”– Esquire

“It’s dark, it’s funny, it’s the most unusual read I had this year….You will read it like that. Highly recommend it.”–HARLAN COBEN for NBC Today Show holiday gift picks

"A Talented Mr. Ripley-esque novel of greed and deceit." – New York Post

“John Boyne’s new novel charts the rise and fall of an antihero cut from the same cloth as Patricia Highsmith’s Tom Ripley…. Darkly comic and deliciously vicious, this mesmerizing portrait of a ruthless psychopath explores artistic endeavor, creative ambition and ‘whether our stories belong to us at all.’” –Minneapolis Star Tribune

"A Ladder to the Sky is clever, chilling and beautifully paced; a study of inner corrosion that Patricia Highsmith herself could not have done better... wickedly astute." –The Times (London)

"A deliciously dark tale of ambition, seduction and literary theft . . . compelling and terrifying . . . powerful and intensely unsettling . . . in Maurice Swift, Boyne has given us an unforgettable protagonist, dangerous and irresistible in equal measure. The result is an ingeniously conceived novel that confirms Boyne as one of the most assured writers of his generation."– The Observer

“Are novelists, by definition, monsters? John Boyne raises this provocative possibility in “A Ladder to the Sky”… A deft plotter, Boyne has fun with the idea that vampiring is simply part of what novelists do, and he implicates readers in their acts of thievery-as-creation by making us like despicable Maurice, almost against our will.” – Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Deliciously venomous… A Ladder to the Sky is an entertaining, if deeply cynical portrait of the literary world.” – Bookpage

"Boyne’s fast-paced, white-knuckle plot, accompanied by delightfully sardonic commentary on the ego, insecurities, and pitfalls of those involved in the literary world, makes for a truly engrossing experience."– Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Boyne expertly explores notions of originality and authorship through multiple first-person accounts of the despicable Swift. As a result, his latest novel is absorbing, horrifying, and recommended.”– Library Journal (starred review)

“An all-consuming ambition to be a successful writer drives a young man down unusual paths to literary acclaim in this compelling character study…. Boyne's singular villain and well-sustained tension merit a good audience.” – Kirkus (starred review)

“Well-crafted...The novel unfolds in an extremely layered manner, but what Swift’s story slowly reveals says much about publishing, pride, deceit, and plagiarism—and worse, much worse.”– Booklist

"Maurice Swift, as cold and manipulative a character as you’re likely to meet this year . . . the story takes an ever darkening series of twists and turns . . . John Boyne is a master storyteller . . . this chilling and darkly comic tale of unrelenting ambition." – Express"Skillfully constructed, and above all, compulsively entertaining...The finest novel of the year."– The Irish Examiner"A dark morality tale in the mold of Patricia Highsmith . . . consistently intriguing." – Daily Mail

“As a study in the self-rationalizing ‘ethics’ of a psychopath, this book is fascinating. As a story, it is horrifically plausible.” – The Sunday Independent

"A riot of a read… An author at the top of his game who knows exactly what he wants to say.” – The Sunday Times

“Irresistibly readable and darkly funny.” – The Irish Independent

"A highly enjoyable romp that lifts the lid on authorial vanity and jealousy and an intelligent take on cultural appropriation." – Monocle